Is King Tut’s Tomb Hiding Queen Nefertiti?

A group of archaeologists have examined King Tutankhamun’s Egyptian tomb and found evidence of two previously undiscovered rooms.

Mamdouh Eldamaty, Egypt’s antiquities minister, says, “This indicates that the western and northern walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb could hide two burial chambers.”

Earlier in 2015, British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves proposed that King Tut’s tomb included two doorways that had been plastered and painted over.

Image credit: Kenneth Garrett/National Geographic Creative

Reeves argues that King Tutankhamun’s tomb was originally built for Nefertiti, a theory backed up by the fact that his golden funerary mask and much of the burial equipment appear to have being designed for a woman.

Learn more about King Tut's mask, and whether it was really designed for Nefertiti, here.

Speaking to National Geographic after inspecting the tomb, Reeves said, “First of all, we saw that on the ceiling itself there’s a distinct line. It suggests that the room was indeed a corridor.”

“What my Egyptian colleagues discovered is that there is a distinct difference in the surface of the surrounding wall and the central part that would be covering the door,” Reeves said. “The surrounding wall is a softer plastering. At the point where I suspect there’s a doorway, it’s quite gritty.”

The next step in the investigation is to further examine the tomb with radar equipment and thermal imaging. Reeves hopes this can take place in November of this year.

If the suspected doors are confirmed, there’s still a major challenge to face – one of the suspected doorways is covered by a priceless painting.